inclusion

‘It’s not about inclusion — it’s about belonging’

When their baby is born, most parents have dreams about how that new life will unfold. Those dreams are unrealistic — by definition, because they’re dreams — but they usually involve the glorious mastering of unavoidable conventions on the way to some high-level prize. If you’re part of a tight community — if, say, you [more]
Bridging the Divides, Fostering Inclusivity: Panel Discussion with Miryam Kabakov

Bridging the Divides, Fostering Inclusivity: Panel Discussion with Miryam Kabakov

(This speech was given Miryam Kabakov, Executive Director of Eshel, at the panel discussion entitled " Bridging the Divides, Fostering Inclusivity: Rabbinic, Psychoanalytic and Academic Perspectives on Traditional Judaism and Contemporary Gender/Sex Identities," which was held at the Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York, November 11, 2019.) This Shabbat we read the Parsha where Avraham [more]
Queer Orthodox Jews Want More Than Tolerance

Queer Orthodox Jews Want More Than Tolerance

According to Miryam Kabakov, executive director of ten-year-old Orthodox LGBTQ+ organization Eshel, the Orthodox community has become exceedingly more open over the past decade. “When we started,” she says, “Orthodox communities were not really addressing LGBTQ inclusion as something they needed to do.” Now, Eshel’s Welcoming Shuls project reports that over 140 Orthodox synagogues across North America are [more]
Survey: Orthodox Parents of LGBTQ Kids Want More Inclusion

Survey: Orthodox Parents of LGBTQ Kids Want More Inclusion

by Victoria Brown Published in the Baltimore Jewish Times on February 27, 2019   Mindy Sager Dickler’s guiding philosophy is ahavas Yisrael, love for fellow Jews. “There’s no exceptions. We have a responsibility to love one another and not to judge one another. Those should be overriding principles,” said Dickler, president and co-founder of JPride [more]
Why Orthodox synagogues should welcome gay couples

Why Orthodox synagogues should welcome gay couples

  A halachic approach to the inclusion of same-sex couples in Orthodox communities by Rabbi Dr. Zev Farber Orthodox Jewish homosexuals in committed relationships who wish to remain part of the community are often stuck having to leave the latter or hide the former. Many Orthodox communities are in a similar quandary, wishing to be [more]